Members of the Rossignol 4A bronze medal volleyball team from Ile-a-la Crosse include Bodean Desjarlais, Michael Roy, Corey Desjarlais, Brent Desjarlais, Leon Desjarlais, Austin Bouvier, Jonathan Morin, Terrance Kenny, William Desjarlais, Paul Raymond and coach Glen Bouvier
By Rhonda Cooper
Ile-a-la Crosse’s Rossignol High School Huskies battled to win the bronze medal at the SHSAA’s 4A boys volleyball provincial play downs Nov. 25-26 in Wilkie equalling their 2009 performance.
Rossignol competed in a pool with Creighton, Oxbow, Shaunavon and Moose Jaw. In their opening match against Creighton, the Huskies recorded 25-22 and 25-13 wins. Next they faced the eventual provincial champions from Oxbow where they came out on the short end of 25-22 and 25-23 scores. At 1-1, they then recorded wins of 25-17 and 25-22 against Shaunavon and 26-24 and 25-20 against Moose Jaw to finish round robin play at 3-1. This placed them second in their pool and a spot in the quarter-finals.
In the cross over Rossignol faced Wilkie in the quarter-finals. After squeaking out a 25-22 win in game one, the Huskies rolled to a 25-17 game two victory. This put them into the semifinals against Caronport.
Rossignol took the first game 25-20 but Caronport came back to take game two 25-22 to force a third and deciding game.
“We fell apart in the second set against Caronport,” said coach Glen Bouvier. “We had a 16-11 lead at one point but we couldn’t finish them off. They made a series of mistakes.”
Bouvier noted the team was upset with themselves and each other and came out flat in the third game which Caronport won 25-16, relegating the Huskies to the bronze medal match versus Yorkton.
In the opening game of the best-of-three match Rossignol recorded a 25-14 win. But Yorkton was not ready to roll over and die and came back to claim a tight 26-24 game two to force a third a deciding game in which the Huskies roared back to claim a 25-16 win and the bronze medal.
“We really wanted the gold,” said Bouvier. “They played so wonderful all year. We hit a lot of the big city 5A tournaments where we competed with and even defeated those teams.”
This was the team’s fourth consecutive provincials.
“I’ve had these kids since they were in Grade 9,” said Bouvier. “This was our last shot at it as a group.”
In four years, Rossignol has brought home a pair of bronze medals and was awarded the sportsmanship award last year.
“We’ve won an award for the past three years,” he said.
JSJH boys compete
Jonas Samson coached by Chris Ellis had a shortened roster of only seven players for the weekend event. Provincial play only allows students in Grades 9-12 to participate so the two Grade 8 players were ineligible.
“I think some of those games, the boys would like to have back,” said Ellis. “A mistake here or there and a point here and there and we would have had a few more wins.”
Jonas was placed in a pool with Caronport, Yorkton, Nipawin and Wilkie. Although the team failed to win a set, they did win one game versus Yorkton. Five of the eight losses saw the team score 20 or more points.
“At the time, I think it was hard on the boys because they had been winning all year,” said Ellis. “But they were playing against teams made mostly of Grade 11 and 12 players. I am not sure they realized the scope of the weekend..”
Ellis is very pleased with the team’s performance citing their serving and passing was consistent all weekend with different players stepping up in each game.
“I have to tell you a couple of those boys are freaks of nature. They are the type of players who only come along every eight or nine years,” he said. “I think they will have a good future in volleyball if they stick with it.”
This bodes well for the Carpenter High School senior boys volleyball team. For the first time in at least eight years, the CHS team this year missed qualifying for provincials but with a keen crop coming up they will improve their chances of returning to the championship show.
